Mattress



C. JOHNSON Oct. 25, 1955 MATTRESS Filed May '10, 1952 FIG.6

FIG.5

INVENTOR. Crockett Johnson m'xd u ATTORNEY United States Patent MATTRESS Crockett Johnson, Rowayton, Conn.

Application May 10, 1952, Serial No. 287,179

1 Claim. (Cl. 5357) This invention relates to a mattress and more particularly to a mattress having a plurality of selectable surfaces of varying hardness.

The customary mattress has a surface of but one hardness. This common hardness which is prevalent on either of the rectangular flat sleeping surfaces is due to the fact that most mattresses have cotton batting or a composition batting adjacent both sleeping surfaces. Moreover mattresses manufactured according to common practice using cotton batting and the like all have a sleeping surface of a common hardness.

It is an object of this invention to provide a mattress having a plurality of sleeping surfaces or areas having varying selectable hardness.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a mattress that is capable of being easily turned to obtain any one of these desired selectable surfaces.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a novel, easily made and inexpensively manufactured mattress.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent upon reading the following disclosure accompanied by a drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of the mattress broken away in part to show a plurality of hardboard panels and the two halves of the mattress which are superimposed upon one another to produce the selectable desired sleeping surfaces.

Fig. 2 is a view showing the method of attaching the hardboard panels by means of a plurality of spacedapart criss-crossed tapes.

Figs. 3-6 inclusive show a series of varying arrangements of the mattress with the sleeping surface being uppermost.

Figs. 7-11 inclusive show a method of attaching the two halves of a mattress by means of detachable grommets, said grommets being secured to transverse flaps which in turn are secured to the respective halves of the mattress, and

Figs. 12-16 show another embodiment wherein the halves are secured to each other by transverse flaps sewn to the respective halves of the complete mattress.

Referring to the drawing, the mattress of this invention consists of two halves joined together in a manner so that one half may be swung upon the other half. The first half of the mattress A is provided with a plurality of hardboard panels such as pressed board of common manufacture, namely the trademark products, for example, Masonite, Insulite, and the like. The second half of the mattress B consists of uniform construction of cotton batting or the like and does not have any pressed board panels therein.

In effect of my invention comprises two mattresses, one mattress B being of uniform construction throughout, and the other mattress A having a plurality of pressed board panels therein. The pressed board panels of the A mattress are disposed adjacent one sleeping surfaces so that the thickness of cotton or composition batting between one surface and .the pressed board ;panels.is of a dilferent depth than between the ,pressed board panels and the other sleepingsurface. .In other words :-the pressed board .panels are not placed in the exact center of the A mattress but rather they are-dis- .posed relatively elose to one of the sleeping surfaces.

'Fhepressed boardpanels 1 are of common transverse distance and are disposed longitudinally in planar relationship. These panels -1 are united by-means of crisscrossed -tapes 2 which tapes secure the top-of -one panel to the bottom of the next successive panel. .These tapes 2 permit the mattress to be rolled up for easy turning when selecting a sleeping surface. The first half of the mattress A may be secured to the second half of the mattress B by means of a transverse flap 3. The two edges of the mattresses A and B may be encased in a mattress cover 4, thereby providing a unit encased mattress.

As shown in Figs. 311 the halves of the mattress can be flipped over at the attached ends to produce the selectable sleeping surfaces of varying hardness. In Fig. 3 is shown a sleeping surface of extra hardness wherein the hardboard panels are relatively close to the sleeping surface.

Fig. 6 shows the mattress area of Fig. 3 turned over through thereby producing the B half of the mattress uppermost with the pressed board panels 1 being farthest removed from the sleeping surface, thereby creating the soft sleeping surface. By turning the A half of the mattress of Fig. 3 about its end the sleep-' ing surfaces shown in Figs. 4 and 5 are produced. The sleeping surface of Fig. 4 is designated hard and is the surface wherein the A half of the mattress is uppermost but wherein the pressed board panels are adjacent to the B half of the mattress.

Fig. 5 is the mattress of Fig. 4 rotated through 180 and presents a sleeping surface of medium softness and wherein the B half of the mattress is uppermost and the pressed board panels are adjacent the bottom of the B mattress.

Fig. 7 shows transverse flap 5 secured to the A half of the mattress and transverse flap 6 secured to the B half of the mattress. Flaps 5 and 6 are detachably secured to one another by means of detachable grommets. As shown in Figs. 8l0 the mattress may be detached from one another; however, the mattress A may be turned relative to the mattress B at its end without detaching of the grommets.

Figs. 124.6 show an embodiment of the invention wherein a single end transverse flap 7 is sewn to the A mattress and the B mattress.

Figs. 13-15 show the manner of turning the B mattress about the end of the A mattress to effect the sleeping surface of medium softness shown in Fig. 16, starting from a sleeping surface of extra hardness shown in Fig. 12.

While this invention has been described showing one planar surface of pressed board, it is not to be limited to this illustrative showing but rather only as defined in the claim appended hereinafter.

Having described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

A mattress consisting of two primary resilient sections of substantially equal length and width and of substantially the same thicknesses, a planar stiffening member of substantially lesser thickness than either of said sections and dividing one of said sections into a relatively thick area and an area of lesser thickness, and hinge-like connecting means between said mattress sections adapted to permit relative movement of said sections in such manner that when one section is swung on said hinge-like means to one position overlying the other section the mattress sections lie with the stiffening member at its major height providing a hard mattress efI'ect, when said one section is swung to a second position underlying the other section the stifiening member will lie at a low intermediate position providing a softer mattress effect, and when the said two sections are then swung as a whole, the stifiening member will lie at a higher intermediate position; and when the said one section is then swung to a position underlying said other section the stiffening member will lie at its lowermost position providing a still softer mattress effect, thus providing a mattress which is adjustable as to its sections, hinged together, which will provide a major resistance, and at least three successively reduced resistances, to the user.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain France Dec. 22, 

